1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gymnastic machine equipped with a load group comprising at least one implement connected to a flexible member. In particular, the present invention relates to a gymnastic machine equipped with a load group comprising at least one implement freely or rigidly connected to a flexible member. In more detail, the present invention relates to a gymnastic machine equipped a load group comprising at least one implement connected to a flexible member and a locking device for at least one respective implement.
2. Description of the State of the Art
As is well-known, one of the reasons which has led to the success of gymnastic machines is their rigidity of operation which allows to focus on a particular muscle group. These characteristics allow the less athletically prepared user to train with a reasonable certainty of protecting his own wellbeing, and therefore in total safety. However, the very fact of imposing the execution of particular movements is considered excessively restricting by users who, for reasons of work or inclination, prefer that training with weights should require absolute concentration on handling free loads possibly assembled through equalizers, in order also to actively stimulate their own respective proprioception. In any case, the use of equalizers or free weights requires considerable space, both for the execution of the training exercises and for accommodating the weights and accessories, among them the equalizers themselves. To satisfy the requirements of these more demanding users, and to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above, some manufacturers of gymnastic machines have set out to modify the basic concept of gymnastic machines, and therefore the relative classical structure, in such a way as to make the execution of training exercises freer, with implements connected to cables connected to more or less finely adjustable load groups. In this connection it is as well to recall the machine designated “Ercolina” by the applicant, the inventive concepts of the inventor Roy Simonson, among them U.S. Pat. No. 6,458,061, and Patent Application no. RA2002A000017 by the applicant, which was internationalised by Application no. EP 03022187, all examples of how it is possible to make so-called functional gymnastic machines.
With particular reference to Application no. RA2002A000017, on a machine in which the interface between the load and the implements consists of cables, several load stations are made available, each presenting a respective handle, connected in freely sliding manner or rigidly to a cable between pulley-blocks comprising pulleys. In this way, each handle is grippable in any position on the respective run of cable. This facilitates the use of the machine by users of differing build, and also the execution of exercises devised by each individual user to recruit particular muscle areas in a personalised way. In fact, each handle can be made to run freely along the cable run between two pulley-blocks as far as the desired position if coupled freely to the cable itself, or can be located in a position definable at will between the two pulley-blocks at the end of the exercise, if of the type rigidly connected to the cable. Once the execution of a movement has started, the handle will maintain its reference position along the respective cable run simply because of the fact that, in use, the handle separates two distinct portions on the respective cable run, inclined to each other at a particular angle, which depends on the position in which the handle is gripped and the type of trajectory over which, moment by moment, the handle happens to be moved by the user. It will be noted that, by virtue of what has been said, the handles of the load stations currently not being used are left free to oscillate together with the respective run of cable, which inevitably will be subjected to alternating loads of variable value.
Naturally, this situation makes the use of the machine more annoying the lighter the load selected, and the mass of the oscillating handle is important. Furthermore, these oscillations make these machines potentially dangerous, given that the implements not in use could in particular conditions strike the head or another bodily area of the user without warning. In addition, these machines are noisy because of the continual banging of the handles not in use which are dragged against the pulley-blocks which delimit the respective cable runs during the execution of training.
What has been described above renders such machines less interesting for the market of more advanced users, who consider the disadvantage of the noisiness and the oscillation of the handles not in use discordant with the technical level of these types of machines. The problem, therefore, of the availability of functional gymnastic machines with implements usable over free trajectories which are both mechanically safe and silent is currently unresolved, and represents an interesting challenge for the applicant, who has decided to tackle and resolve it, as will be described below, in order to exploit it economically.
In view of the situation described above, it would be desirable to have available a gymnastic machine provided with a load group which, besides enabling the disadvantages, typical of the state of the known art set forth above, to be limited and if possible overcome, could define a new standard in this sector of the market. Consequently, such a gymnastic machine would prove to be indicated for installation in either a biomedical, or a sporting, or a domestic environment, and therefore in any environment in which gymnastic machines have applications.